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Original poster

Help! I'm locked out of my computer :(

24 replies

jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 15:43

Saturday my desktop came up with the typical "Click user to start" Except that there was no user name listed to click on. Hitting control/alt/delete took me to a screen asking for my windows password, which, to my recollection, I have never set up. I tried restarting in safe mode but still got asked the password. Tried typing in Administrator and leaving password blank but that didn't work either.

Any advice???

Please????

OP posts:
MuffinBaker · 13/04/2009 15:44

The kids do that to mine sometimes.

Original poster
jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 15:56

How did you fix it? I have a feeling the kids did something. I was at work when it happened and dh was home with them.

OP posts:
onagar · 13/04/2009 16:07

When you did control/alt/delete twice do you mean you tried both your usual username and administrator?

When you tried safe mode which choice did you pick? "last known good configuration"?

I think there is a 'repair' option too though I will have to go look as not seen it in years.

onagar · 13/04/2009 16:15

Another possibility is to boot into the safe mode screen and choose to 'start with a command prompt' it will take you to a login screen. If that one does work for you then it will take you to a black screen.

You can then type in control userpasswords2 and you will see the option to untick passwords at logon.

If that logon screen doesn't work either then it will mean plan B

Dunno what plan B is yet

Original poster
jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 16:17

I did try last known good configuration and it didn't work.

The problem with user name/password is that I thought I had specifically not set up a password b/c I didnt' want to fret about forgetting or losing it.

Will try your other suggestions now. Thanks!

OP posts:
Original poster
jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 16:33

Augggghhhh! It keeps taking me back to the same screen of clicking the now absent user-name.

OP posts:
MuffinBaker · 13/04/2009 16:34

I don't, DH has too!

onagar · 13/04/2009 16:45

I've been looking around and all the solutions so far seem to involve logging on as Administrator to fix it

Who installed windows for you? is there any chance that it does have a password that you can find out?

To be honest I think it means that the password files are corrupted, but am hoping not. you can boot from the Windows CD (if you have one) to do a repair. However I think it will ask you for the administrator password. The only chance there is that it might copy over the logon screen files from the CD in the process. I'm not sure if it does or not.

onagar · 13/04/2009 16:52

I've not tried this, but have heard of it before and it looks promising.

Password Reset

onagar · 13/04/2009 17:15

Also there is OPHcrack which I have tried and does work. It will tell you what the passwords are now. It may not help since there isn't supposed to be one, but if there IS an administrator password then you can get into windows to sort out the problem.

Original poster
jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 17:39

I've talked to the guy who last worked on the computer and he is at a loss as to what has happened. I've just bought a copy of winternals ERD off ebay and hope it gets here soon! At least then I can unlock the password and get in to see what things look like.

OP posts:
Original poster
jabberwocky · 13/04/2009 17:40

Oh, just saw your last post. Will try that in the meantime.

Thanks so much!

OP posts:
Original poster
jabberwocky · 14/04/2009 00:40

Well, I've downloaded ophcrack to a CD, ran it through my locked PC but now when I put it into my laptop to get the password I can't find the program to open it. Do you know what it takes?

OP posts:
MuffinBaker · 14/04/2009 10:25

Have you fixed it?

Mine is doing it now if I leave the computer and it goes to screen saver. Only way I can get back in is by restarting.

Original poster
jabberwocky · 14/04/2009 14:10

Haven't fixed it yet I've ordered a repair disc and tried the program onager mentioned but my laptop won't open the program so I'm still stuck.

OP posts:
clumsymum · 14/04/2009 14:15

Which operating system is it. If it's XP, then I have a utility here that I can run to reset passwords back to blank (I support our local primary school) . If you have Xp, I can send you a copy of this.

ABetaDad · 14/04/2009 14:27

I heard that if you take the internal battery out of the computer (i.e the small round watch type battery under the cover) - that powers the computer clock and the BIOS it resets/wipes the passwords.

Is that true?

onagar · 14/04/2009 14:36

Jabberwocky, it sounds like Clumsymum has the other program. The one I said I hadn't tried. Which might also solve your problem or even be better depending on what's gone wrong.

With Ophcrack and the other CDs too you have to get them to boot on the locked PC.

To get it to boot you may have to go into the bios to tell it to 'boot from CD' first instead of from hard drive first.

To get into the bios watch the normal boot up screen. Mine says "press Delete to enter bios" though it could be F2 or something else.

One of mine will also let you press ESC while it boots up and then asks what you want to boot from.

Btw when I put the ophcrack link in I didn't say that it's the Live CD that you need. This downloads an image file to be burned to CD and not a program you run.

If you have Vista it's this Live CD

onagar · 14/04/2009 14:38

The BIOS reset will be for the BIOS password I believe. I've never set one in the bios so not tried that.

Original poster
jabberwocky · 14/04/2009 18:46

clumsymum, yes it's XP. I;m in the US though so it would cost a bit to send it.

onager, I'm probably showing my tech ignorance here but I did burn the live CD. It's just that my computer (the one that works) keeps telling me it doesn't know what program to use to open it. It showed winzip as one of the possibilities but didn't go to the winzip demo window. I wanted to check with you and see if that was correct before I bought winzip to open it.

OP posts:
onagar · 14/04/2009 21:46

oh well you don't want to open it at all and don't need winzip. It will only work at startup and loads instead of windows.

When you download it it is an ISO file. Now there are two ways to copy that to a CD. One is as a file and that means when you look on the CD you see one file called blahblahlivecd.iso.

The proper way treats it as a disk image and then you will see two folders on it called 'boot' and 'slax'

If you let us know which program you use to make CDs we can probably tell you how to tell it to treat it as an imagefile

Original poster
jabberwocky · 14/04/2009 22:00

I burned it with Sonic RecordNow!

OP posts:
onagar · 14/04/2009 22:43

ok look on the CD (right click and explore) and if there is just the one file called ophcrack-xp-livecd-2.1.0 then look for something like "copy image file" under the copy disk menu on Sonic RecordNow! and make it again from the original file.

If it already says two folders called 'boot' and 'slax' then you have it right and just need to put it in the locked PC as it starts up and do the boot from CD thing above.

Original poster
jabberwocky · 15/04/2009 15:26

Got it. There is just the one file so I will try again.

Thanks!

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